Mask These Wounds
by Midnight Dahlias
Summary: KakaOC oneshot. The secret Itachi knows about Kakashi referenced in "The Secrets That Keep Us Up All Night." Just tying up some loose ends. LINKED TO M RATED STORY.


**I don't own Naruto.**

**I kind of intended this to be a part of "The Secrets That Keep Us Up All Night," but it's too off track. But since I might reference it again, I'll type it up. I promise, my OC is not a Mary Sue.**

**A note on the previous comment: Most of my stories mesh together in one world, hence why I might touch back on this. It gives stories color. Also, rated M for safety and since it connects to other M stories.**

"Kakashi?" Oniko leaned to the side, trying to look Kakashi in the face. He was in profile, left side of his face away from her. "Kakashi, what's wrong? Where's Obito?" He didn't move. "Kakashi? Hakate? !" A note of panic entered her voice. "Where's my brother? !"

Kakashi clenched his fists in his pockets. Oniko seized him by the vest, shaking him, eyes bleeding to red. "Hakate! Where is he? !" Kakashi let her shake him, resisting only enough to keep the left side of his face in shadow. "He-he-" Oniko slowly stopped rattling him, tears gathering in her eyes. The truth sank into her insidiously, sapping her fury.

Finally, she cracked. She slid to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Kakashi kneeled with her, holding her arms to support her. From there, he just watched her sadly. He shoulders trembled, lifting and falling with each anguished sob.

"I'm sorry, Oniko-san. I'm so sorry…." He murmured it under his breath, fearing anything above a whisper would break him too. Hearing this, Oniko lunged suddenly, wrapping her arms around Kakashi's neck tightly. Kakashi closed his eyes, placing his hands on her shaking back.

Her hands clutched randomly at his vest, his hair, his neck, anywhere there was a purchase. Abruptly, her crying ceased as a finger looped around his hitei-ite. It was swung low, lower than it normally was. She pulled back, staring at him. He couldn't meet her gaze, even when it was inevitable that she would now know.

Oniko grabbed the metal, pushing it up. Behind it was a mass of bandages, stained a rusty pink. "Were you injured?" Kakashi didn't answer, but didn't stop her when she began to peel away the gauze. Layer by layer, the cotton came away, until the last moist netting was left. She removed it slowly. Kakashi winced as the fabric pulled on the stitches forming a neat vertical line over his eyelid.

"Kakashi, what happened?" There was a long, expectant pause as she waited for an answer. "Kakashi, please," she pleaded. He closed his good eye once again. "Please. Open your eyes. Let me see." He gritted his teeth, and opened both of his eyes.

Oniko's mouth dropped, a small noise escaping her mouth. Kakashi's new eye wasn't healed, but through the haze, he could see an aura around the shocked woman, wavering and morphing. Her finger came close to the wounded socket, and he flinched.

"Is this…..how did you….." Oniko couldn't figure out what question to ask.

"It's Obito's," he said shortly. Kakashi was waiting for her to jump away, grab for a weapon, use a jitsu, something. Anything except what she did.

Gingerly, she lay down each bandage where it had been before, replacing the tape with a little rub. When she reached for his mask, he brought his hand up to stop her, though failing to actually touch her. She didn't move, instead was still, waiting for his permission. After a second, Kakashi's fingers twitched and lowered away. Their eyes were locked as Oniko pulled the thin mask down, exposing his face.

Then, to Kakashi's infinite surprise, she leaned up, placing a kiss on the gauze covering her brother's eye. Kakashi watched her pull away, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. She looked deeply into his face with a complicated expression. Her palms cupped his cheeks. "Thank you," she whispered. "For keeping my brother with us, even if it's just a part of him. I'm glad you took his eye, so he may watch over us through you." With that, she pulled his face to hers and kissed him.

Kakashi recoiled a little, breaking contact. "Oniko-san, please, I-" She closed the space between them, kissing him harder than before. Again, he pulled back. "You're emotional, this is not-" She cut him off with another kiss. "Oniko-san," he mumbled against her lips. "It's not-" She pressed harder into him, trying to silence his talk. He grabbed her around the ears as gently as he could and pried her off of him. Her hurt, tear-stained face almost broke him. "Oniko-san, what are you doing?"

"Kakashi, please," she begged, her voice cracking with a fresh wave of tears. "Please, I need you." He felt her nails dig into the flesh of his jaw. Her face contorted with grief. "My brother…how much longer do I have with you? How much time until you meet the same fate?" Her voice became increasingly hysterical as she started to cry in earnest. "It can't wait anymore! Once, just once, Kakashi," she lowered her tone down to barely above a breath. "Let me feel what it would be like to be with you. No missions, no enemies, no duty. I'm afraid, Kakashi. I'm afraid you'll die never knowing how much I love you. I never had the chance with…" She trailed off, choking back sobs.

Kakashi's breath caught. "Oniko-san….." She cried a little harder in response to the formal honorific. He lifted her chin with a curled finger. "If you want me, you can have me." Oniko suddenly silenced, searching his face. "I love you too."

O*O*O*O*O*

"Oniko, you can't be serious."

"Would I joke about this, Hakate?" Oniko enunciated his last name sharply, sliding her tanto into its sheath with a snap.

"You know this is insanity!" Kakashi came up beside her. She didn't look up, continuing to pack assorted weapons into her belt. "As Leaf shinobi, our loyalty should be to-"

"To what exactly? !" She finally turned to him, her Sharingan eyes blazing with fury. "To a dying village? ! To an old feeble man only interested in pleasing other countries? ! To a society of out-dated ninja willing to sell your hide for their own glory? ! How many of us must die before you get it? !"

"The success of the mission is all important. It comes before our lives. We knew that when we became ninja, Oniko," Kakashi said in a low voice.

"Oh? So the success of the mission? Is that all you took from your father's suicide?" Oniko's voice was thin and icy, her words cutting deep. "AND WHEN MY BROTHER DIED? ! WAS THAT MISSION A SUCCESS? ! DID YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT? !" She seized her katana, ripping it free from the sheath. "Either you are with us, or you're dead! So which is it going to be? ! Those weaklings out there who are all too happy to let their silver-haired lapdog do their dirty work, or us superior shinobi, the rightful rulers of the Land of Fire, and your only family? !" Her words hung thick in the air, the tip of her katana a scant inch from his nose.

"I can't let you destroy Konoha," Kakashi stated darkly.

"KATON: GOKAKYU NO JITSU!"

O*O*O*O*O*

I watched Sasuke fall to his knees, his new found Sharingan fading. He would wake up hours later, with only a few memories of this night. I picked him up in my arms.

Tears fell without my control onto my little brother's pale face. I hated myself for hurting him. But it was the only way to preserve peace in Konoha. I knew someday, thanks to my cruel words, he would seek me out and kill me. I clung to that thought like it was my life line, my only comfort.

As I turned, I saw someone standing in the alley, backlit by the moon. I froze. His hair caught the faint light, and I knew who it was. If he was here for revenge, I wasn't sure if I would make it past.

"Uchiha. Are all of them dead?"

"Yes." My tone was dead and emotionless, the way I knew it would be for the rest of my life. The man turned, the moonlight striking a bold mark across his face, which was unusually uncovered. Though my face would never show it, horror drenched me from head to foot.

The right side of his jaw was a mass of red welts and blisters, skin twisted and black, lips ripped away, showing an eerie leer on Kakashi's otherwise stoic face. The burn was all the way down his neck, and I could see where fire had burned through his Chuunin vest and shirt, leaving similar marks.

He just stood there for a few tense seconds. Finally, he pulled down his hitei-ite, pulled up his mask, and came towards me. I tried to stay calm, hoping seeing Sasuke would keep him from attacking me. Instead, he held out his arms to take my brother.

For reasons I will never understand, I just handed Sasuke over. Kakashi held him firmly against his chest, and looked darkly at me.

"Run, Uchiha. There's no place for you here."

My pleas to Sarutobi finished, my clan dead, a criminal in my own home, I did as I was told and ran.

**Just wanted to get that out. It's not exactly what you would call "developed" but I liked the idea. Maybe go full story with it? Who freaking knows?**


End file.
